Non-Aligned Nations Meet, Condemn Mid-East Treaty

HAVANA--The summit conference of non-aligned nations ended Sunday with a resolution "energetically condemning" the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and the American role in drafting it.

The peace treaty condemnation was part of a final declaration that is sharply critical of the U.S. However many leaders at the conference shunned Cuban attempts to associate the non-aligned nations with the Soviet Union.

The declaration, a product of six days work, will serve as a guideline for the non-aligned countries until their next summit, scheduled for 1982 in Baghdad.

In a closing speech, Cuban premier Fidel Castro, the leader of the movement for the next three years, said his leadership during the conference was "not to benefit Cuba."

Some Arab countries, which had originally demanded Egypt's expulsion from the conference, settled for a treaty condemnation but a committee was assigned to ivestigate the peace treaty and given power to suspend the Sadat government from the movement.

Conference sources said the Arab countries relented after 15 pro-Western African countries argued that a member nation should not be suspended for "waging peace."

The Arabs said Egypt must be punished to dissuade other countries from supporting what they regard as a peace treaty that works against Arab efforts to regain Israeli-occupied territory.

Butros Gahlil, Egyptian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, argued that his country's peace initiative did not amount to a separate peace with Israel, but was a first step toward an overall Mideast peace settlement.